


Inspiration

by Star55



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Genderswap, Girl Direction, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 15:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18626035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: Zayn, out of artistic inspiration, goes to the museum to get inspired.





	Inspiration

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [Inspiration](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18872140) by [CanardTeaChaud (MissCactus)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCactus/pseuds/CanardTeaChaud)



> This one is small.
> 
> Please do not break the fourth wall and show this to anyone in the band, their family, friends, etc, etc. Thank you. ♥

It’s been weeks since Zayn has found inspiration to draw.

She would very much like to be able to draw something, _anything_. A bowl of fruit. A brick wall. The clothes that Harry and Louis leave lying around their flat. 

But every time she puts her pencil to paper… _nothing_.

“Go to a museum or summat?” Louis says halfway through a bowl of cereal, with milk on her chin. She’s been sitting there for the last half an hour, staring at Zayn. Annoying her, mostly.

Zayn sighs heavily. “Yeah,” she mumbles in agreement. It _is_ an idea at least. Not that she particularly wants to give Louis the credit. 

Summer holidays tend to be the worst for Zayn creatively. When she’s at uni, her creativity doesn’t get stifled like it does when she doesn’t have something to focus on. She gets worried that it’ll always be like this – that she won’t be able to create outside of a structured learning environment. But if she can break the cycle and actually _draw_ something, then she’ll feel a whole lot better about herself, and her abilities as an artist.

She packs her sketchbook and her favourite pencils into her satchel and wanders her way through the London traffic to The National Gallery. She stands outside of it, looking up at the huge old building and wonders to herself if one day she’ll ever have any art in a museum like this.

Once inside, Zayn wanders around for a bit. She smiles when she stops in front of some paintings she really loves. 

There’s a few people milling about. Some by themselves, some with children. A couple of teenagers, who look like they’re on a date. Zayn finds a spot to sit and pulls out her sketchbook and a pencil. She figures that drawing a crowd of faceless people is probably an easy way to start. 

Except, when her pencil touches the paper, her mind goes blank. Like she has _no idea_ how to draw anymore.

It’s beyond frustrating. 

Zayn pulls out her phone and plays a couple of levels of Angry Birds before getting up again. Maybe wandering some more will help? It can’t hurt, she thinks as she walks passed a couple of children staring in awe at a painting. 

She was like that when she was younger – a kid staring in awe at art. It’s not that different these days, either, she thinks. She’s often caught up in the beauty of a piece. It warms her heart to know that there’s still kids like that.

Zayn does a circuit of her favourite areas before picking somewhere new. This section of the museum has more people, probably because it’s close to the gift shop. She sits down again and opens her sketch pad once more. She rests it on her lap and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath in, holds it for a few seconds, and then releases, trying to clear her mind of the excess noise and stimuli, and just focus on _one_ specific thing to draw.

When Zayn opens her eyes, she sees _her_.

It’s probably the loud laugh that Zayn hears first, and is immediately drawn to it. Living with Louis should’ve desensitised her to loud noises, but it hasn’t yet. 

The girl isn’t particularly captivating to look at – nothing showy about her. She’s wearing denim shorts, a loose tank top, and a backwards snapback over bleached blonde hair, but Zayn is entranced. The way she holds herself is confident, yet casual, easy, like she has no worries in the world. 

She slaps the shoulder of the person she’s with and laughs loudly again. Several heads swivel to look at them, but the girl doesn’t seem to care. Zayn likes that.

Before she knows it, her pencil is on the paper in front of her, and she’s sketching.

She’s _actually_ drawing for the first time all summer.

It feels fantastic.

Zayn starts simple, sketching a rough outline of the girl in the pose she’s in. Each time the girl shifts her stance, Zayn starts again, drawing the girl over and over again, until there are three full pages covered with small sketches of this girl.

The girl and her friend wander closer to where Zayn is sitting, they stand in front of a painting and the girl talks loudly. Zayn can easily make out her Irish accent over the noise around her. She bites her lips to stop from smiling too much. She re-focuses her attention on her paper and takes the time to sketch the girl’s profile. 

It’s a lovely profile, she realises as she draws her. The slope of her nose, the slight jut of her chin, and the way her hair curls right near her ear all have Zayn sketching like mad to capture every detail. She wishes that she was a little closer to see if there were freckles smattered across the bridge of her nose, or to be able to see clearly what colour her eyes are. She thinks they’re blue, but from this far away still, it’s hard to tell. 

The girl laughs again and Zayn is captivated.

It’s hard trying to get every detail down of the way the girl’s head tips back as she laughs, but Zayn is trying her hardest. It’s such a relief to be able to finally draw again. It feels absolutely _incredible_ to be inspired. If it wasn’t weird, she’d go over and thank the girl for existing and helping the break the artist’s block that she’s been suffering for so long now. 

She’s so engrossed in her sketches that she doesn’t notice someone approaching until they’re standing right next her. 

“Huh, I didn’t think I opened my mouth _that_ wide when I laugh.”

Zayn reels back, hands scrabbling to cover her work. Her cheeks burn bright and she both looks up, and tries to avoid the girl’s gaze at the same time.

“Umm,” she mumbles, closing her sketchbook and hastily stuffing it into her bag. 

“You don’t need to do that,” the girl says. “You’re really talented.”

Zayn blushes harder than she ever thought possible. 

“I’m Niall.”

…

“And you are?”

“Zayn.”

The girl – _Niall_ – smiles beautifully at her.

“Nice to meet you,” Niall says. “So. Why me?”

Zayn shrugs. “You caught my attention.”

Niall smiles again. “In the gay way, I hope?”

Zayn blinks at her and Niall gestures to the pride badges and pins that Zayn has stuck to her satchel. She bites her lip. “Umm…”

“Well, _I_ hope that it’s the gay way,” Niall says breezily. “It’s nice thinking that a beautiful girl was so captivated by me that she had to draw me.”

Zayn isn’t quite sure how to take her, or this situation. She didn’t expect to get caught, or that the girl would _flirt_ with her. Badly. But still flirting.

“I’m sorry,” she eventually says.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Niall replies with a shrug. “Like I said – it’s nice.”

Zayn just nods. This whole thing is too awkward for her. 

“Well,” Niall says slowly. “Would you like to go get coffee?”

The question stumps her, but the girl’s posture is so easy and relaxed that Zayn can’t help but feel calmer looking at her. 

“I… uh, yeah, alright,” Zayn replies with a nod. Niall smiles at her. They fall into step, Niall asking about Zayn’s drawings and saying how flattered she is. 

As they sit there and drink coffee, their feet pressed together underneath the table, Zayn thinks that she’s so very glad that she was out of inspiration. Because she doesn’t think she’s going to lose it for a while now.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again. If you've got this far, I hope you enjoyed this part. ♥  
> Please leave me a comment if you liked it. I love comments so very much a lot. ♥
> 
>  
> 
> rebloggable post on my [tumblr](https://star55.tumblr.com/post/184494131621)


End file.
